The Pentagon is calling for a crackdown on Wikileaks and a shutting down of the site; we’ll have an update on the Wikileaks story from a military perspective; also, we’ll have a special report on the Kent State Truth Tribunal, produced by Michael Moore, as the Tribunal prepares to take testimony from West Coast witnesses this weekend; we’ll also have a report on seven people who are still in jail on high bails after being arrested in the post Mehserle verdict actions in Oakland three weeks ago.

We have a series of reports from last night’s post-verdict protests and rage from the streets of Oakland. We’ll present a collage from last night’s street action, and we’ll speak with Anita Johnson from Hard Knock Radio and Jesse Strauss from Flashpoints who were on the ground watching it all unfold. Also we’ll speak with Pablo Alvarado, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network with a response to Obama’s decision to contest the Arizona laws in the courts. And we’ll have Flashpoints en Espanol with Miguel Perez

As the Oakland community begins to understand the meaning of Johannes Mehserle’s involuntary manslaughter verdict, the streets exploded angrily last night.

Mehserle is the former BART cop who killed Oscar Grant on New Year’s morning, 2009. As Grant was lying face down on a BART platform, Mehserle stood up, grabbed his firearm, aimed down, and shot Grant. Mehserle’s next action was to handcuff the wounded 22 year old father before calling for any kind of medical assistance. Oscar Grant was killed that morning, but the Oakland community will never forget his name. Read the rest of this entry →

The Flashpoints team will be joining the Hard Knock Radio team for joint coverage today.

We’ll devote today’s entire show to the Oscar Grant verdict, just
announced an hour ago; we’ll be joined by activists from the Bay Area, where Grant was murdered on New Year’s Day, 2009; we’ll also be joined by activists and community members near the courthouse in Los Angeles.

We’ll get an update on the BP volcano and what’s going on in Mississippi at the Gulf: we’ll speak to the state director of the Sierra Club for Mississippi and the director of First Responders there; also, we’ll have an in-depth look at the Oscar Grant-Johannes Mehserle trial, as both the defense and the prosecution conclude their closing arguments; we’ll also take a look at what could come of the community reaction to the verdict; finally we’ll hear from a Pakistani human rights campaigner who works with domestic workers in Lahore.

Photo of Johannes Mehserle taken by Oscar Grant just before he was killed

We’ll feature an in-depth report from the Johannes Mehserle murder trial of Oscar Grant; also, we’ll get an update on the recent killings of two Mexican nationals by US border patrol agents in the last month; and we’ll get a legal response from a law professor who maintains that Elena Kagan will move the Supreme Court to the right; and we’ll also have an update from the Gulf.

Border patrol agents execute a 15 year old unarmed Mexican at the US-Mexico border in El Paso; we’ll speak with organizers of a vigil in El Paso for 15 year old Sergio Hernandez, and we’ll be joined by Nativo Lopez, President of the Mexican-American Political Association; we’ll also have a report from the murder trial of Johannes Mehserle who killed Oscar Grant it was revealed today right after the young man photographed the violent cop holding a taser; we’ll also have a report about migrant domestic workers fighting for workers rights and legal protection.

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About

Flashpoints is an award-winning daily investigative newsmagazine broadcast on the national Pacifica Radio network. Through original reports and some of the key investigative reporters of our time, Flashpoints goes to the frontlines and to the core of the stories in the areas of government and corporate criminality, human rights, and economic justice. From Baghdad to the US-Mexico border, Palestine to San Francisco, Port-au-Prince to Washington DC, Flashpoints monitors the centers of power as an uncensored platform of independent media.

Musicians!!

We're searching for great new music produced by independent musicians and members of our global audience, so that we can be as non-corporate and copyright-free as possible. All genres -- from blues to electronica to world beats -- welcome!

We like smart, political and well-produced music -- and are especially in search of possible new theme instrumentals. Please send it to Flashpoints, c/o KPFA, 1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA 94704, or email your Mp3s at flashpointsproducer@gmail.com with full descriptions and credits.